1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas permeable member, in particular a gas permeable electrode including a reaction layer carrying a complex thereon as an oxidation reduction catalyst, and a method for producing the gas permeable member.
2. Description of the Background Art
Research of a new use of a phthalocyanine and complexes thereof, hereinafter referred to as a "Pc-complex" or "Pc-complexes" in the light of the catalytic characteristics has been developed. However, principal Pc-complexes are not dissolved in an organic solvent and are stable against not only an alkali but also a dilute acid. Hence, it is difficult to find a proper method for carrying the Pc-complex on a carrier. One popular Pc-complex carrying method usually used is as follows. That is, Pc-complex powder is mixed with carbon powder and the like used as a substrate for a reactive layer of a gas permeable member or electrode to obtain a powdery mixture, and the obtained powdery mixture is placed on a gas permeable layer of a sheet form and is processed into a certain form by a hot press under conditions such as at 360.degree. C. and 600 kg/cm.sup.2 to obtain a gas permeable electrode.
In this case, the Pc-complex is dispersed in the whole reaction layer, and an extremely large amount of the Pc-complex to be used is required to invite a high cost. Also, in this case, since the Pc-complex is dispersed in the form of powder, the surface area of the obtained reaction layer is small.
Meanwhile, in conventional electrolytic reduction of carbon dioxide for producing carbon monoxide and an organic compound, electrolytic reduction of an aqueous solution containing a bicarbonate or the like is effected, while carbon dioxide is blown into the solution, to obtain an organic compound such as formic acid, methane, ethane or the like. In this case, a usual electrode such as a copper, cadmium or lead plate is used for an electrolytic reduction electrode (cathode), and thus the current density is small. Hence, the producing efficiency of the organic compound is low, and the productivity becomes low.